US Pairs 2012-13 news & updates

[Sylvia]

Here's a summary of the known status of the top U.S. Senior & Junior pairs as we head into the off-season.

Friendly request: Please let's try and keep this thread focused on confirmed and/or reliable hearsay news and updates. Thanks!

Senior teams currently listed in the 2012-13 ISP:
Caydee Denney & John Coughlin S1
Mary Beth Marley & Rockne Brubaker S2
Gretchen Donlan & Andrew Speroff S4
Marissa Castelli & Simon Shnapir S5
Felicia Zhang & Nathan Bartholomay S8
Tiffany Vise & Don Baldwin S9

Planning to move/test up to Senior in the US:
Haven Denney & Brandon Frazier J1
Kylie Duarte & Colin Grafton J3

Confirmed/Announced (in recent articles) as new Senior teams:
Caitlin Yankowskas & Joshua Reagan (March 22, 2012): http://web.icenetwork.com/news/artic...&vkey=ice_news
Kiri Baga & Taylor Toth (she is new to pairs & needs to test up): http://web.icenetwork.com/news/artic...&vkey=ice_news
Tarah Kayne & Danny O'Shea (she is new to pairs; both are reportedly testing up)
Lindsay Davis & Mark Ladwig - May 4, 2012 article link posted in this separate discussion thread: http://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/showthread.php?t=83551

"Hearsay" Senior teams::
Alexa Scimeca & Chris Knierim (new, training in Colorado Springs)
Cassie Andrews & Nicholas Anderson (re-teaming in Indianapolis)

Not listed on IPS (icepartnersearch.com):
Ashley Cain S6 - likely to return to JGP in singles & will compete Senior ladies in the U.S. in 2012-13
Timothy LeDuc S11 - still looking as of the May 2nd article link posted in this GSD thread: The challenges of finding a suitable pair/dance partner...

Listed on IPS (have competed at Nationals, Nov.-Sr., within the past few years):
* = ISU Junior age-eligible in 2012-13

Andrea Poapst S7
Ivan Dimitrov S10
Danielle Viola N6
*Anthony Evans N7
*Chad Phillips N8
*Victoria LoRusso N11
Drew Meekins
Joseph Lynch
*Adam Civiello

Junior/JGP-eligible teams currently listed in the 2012-13 ISP:
* = previous JGP experience

*Haven Denney & Brandon Frazier J1
*Britney Simpson & Matthew Blackmer J2
*Jessica Noelle Calalang & Zack Sidhu J4
Jessica Pfund & AJ Reiss J5
*Madeline Aaron & Max Settlage J6
Brianna de la Mora & Taylor Wilson J8
*Olivia Oltmanns & Joshua Santillan J9
Audrey Goldberg & Joseph Dolkiewicz J10
Christina Zaitsev & Ernie Utah Stevens N4

New Junior(?) team (hearsay):
AnnaMarie Pearce & Matej Silecky (new to pairs)

[aftershocks]

Thanks Sylvia.

One of the more intriguing things for the new season in pairs for me, will be how well the junior pairs teams testing up to seniors (Denney/ Frazier and Duarte/ Grafton) will fare among the more established teams at the top and among the newly formed teams, especially Yankowskas/ Reagan and Davis/ Ladwig, and also Baga/ Toth.

[rfisher]

Ooooo. I may have to pay attention to the JGP with Russia's D/D and Zaitsev/Stevens (Divaette/Utah) competing this season. Two of my very favorite teams that I will be very, very saddened if they outgrow each other.

[shutterbug]

Andrea Poapst’s citizenship is listed as Canadian on her icepartnersearch profile. Is this correct?

[Sylvia]

Andrea Poapst’s citizenship is listed as Canadian on her icepartnersearch profile. Is this correct?

Yes, she competed in Junior Ladies at Canadians a few years ago (ETA: 6th in 2010).

This was posted in the Pairs/Dance splits 2012 thread earlier today:

Jones has moved to Cali to skate with someone there.

I assume this is Canada's Brittany Jones -- can anyone provide any reliable hearsay information?

[chipso1]

Andrea Poapst’s citizenship is listed as Canadian on her icepartnersearch profile. Is this correct?

Yes, she is from Canada.

[aftershocks]

Yes, she competed in Junior Ladies at Canadians a few years ago (ETA: 6th in 2010).

This was posted in the Pairs/Dance splits 2012 thread earlier today:

I assume this is Canada's Brittany Jones -- can anyone provide any reliable hearsay information?

It's mentioned in the pairs/ split thread that Jones is trying out with Ian Beharry who is rumored to have split with Katherine Bobak.

[johndockley92]

^^ I hope this does not come to fruition.

[Sylvia]

I'm assuming "Brittany Jones has moved to Cali" isn't accurate or, at least, premature at this point.

I missed this pair news tidbit that was published in early April in an article about the Skating Club of Boston's "Ice Chips" show:

[Marissa] Castelli and [Simon] Shnapir want to push themselves as they prepare for next season. Among other things, they're planning to take a couple of trips to Montreal to work with Bruno Marcotte and Richard Gauthier.

"We're going to go get some choreography done," Castelli said. "We thought [Narumi Takahashi and Mervin Tran, and Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford] were fabulous at worlds, and true sportsmen too. It's going to be nice to see other people and see how they train. Boston is a great place to train, but it's good to see something different. We have a great team here: Bobby [Martin] and Carrie [Wall], and Mark [Mitchell]'s going to be part of our team here.

"We're pushing forward; everything's looking really good," Castelli went on. "For this part of the season, we're very consistent. We want to explore our boundaries and find out what makes us, us. Last year was a difficult year, but it was a transitional year."

Link to the "Ice Chips" thread in GSD with show videos of Castelli/Shnapir and Donlan/Speroff:

Donlan and Speroff have a new exhibition program to Quelqu'un m'a dit by Carla Bruni. Yes, it was finally time to say Goodbye to their Time to Say goodbye exhibition . I loved the new program and will upload this to youtube in a few minutes, too.

ETA: http://youtu.be/TeVQq3vamuw Donlan/Speroff

http://youtu.be/ukd8vm3b8Js Castelli/Shnapir

[Sylvia]

Two new pairs were added recently to USFS' International Selection Pool (ISP) -- Lindsay Davis & Mark Ladwig and Caitlin Yankowskas & Joshua Reagan -- bringing the current total to 18 pairs (9 Senior and 9 ISU Junior age-eligible).

The registration deadline for the National Pairs Camp, scheduled for June 9-10, 2012, at the Canlan Ice Sports facility in Fort Wayne, Indiana, is May 15th: http://www.usfsa.org/Athletes.asp?id=516

The U.S. Figure Skating Pairs Committee and Pairs Development Subcommittee are pleased to announce the inaugural U.S. Figure Skating National Pairs Camp. The goal of this camp is to bring all pair teams together along with prospective pairs skaters while creating an environment to share ideas a techniques and help pairs skating in the United States flourish. The focus will be on developing a solid foundation for pairs skaters/teams with help from guest speakers and elite coaches, including Marina Zoueva, Johnny Johns and Tanith Belbin. Pair teams/coaches and individual pair skaters of all levels are welcome.

ETA #1:
@TaylorToth tweeted today:
"Congrats @KiriBaga on becoming an intermediate pair skater!!!!"

ETA #2: Tanith Belbin tweeted this photo of her and the SC of Boston pairs (Castelli/Shnapir, Donlan/Speroff, Shaughnessy/Morgan, Bautista/Harris)
http://twitter.com/#!/TanithJLB/stat...521985/photo/1

[aftershocks]

I've received a couple of unsolicited pms from a FSU poster who claims that "the Ellenton rink has some amazing energy now and there are pairs teams that [will] Shock even After shocks."

There are some good junior pairs I know, some of whom will be moving up to seniors next season. I enjoyed watching Denney/ Frazier, and Simpson/ Blackmer at Nats in January, but those teams train out of Colorado Springs.

Aside from the new team of Davis/ Ladwig, who else in Ellenton is on the rise? I'm willing to be impressed, but I doubt I'll be "shocked." U.S. pairs is fairly exciting at the moment, and watchable.

Perhaps the "mystery shockers" are currently competing as novices?

Also, does anyone know why the winning young team, Tanovich/ Chau, split up awhile ago?

[Sylvia]

Aside from the new team of Davis/ Ladwig, who else in Ellenton is on the rise?

Felicia Zhang/Nate Bartholomay and the new team of Tarah Kayne/Danny O'Shea are 2 other pairs in Ellenton, FL. They're mentioned in this article link in my post #1 above (scroll down past the Baga/Toth section): http://web.icenetwork.com/news/artic...&vkey=ice_news

ETA re. Tanovich/Chau: I never heard an official reason for their split in May 2010. Both have been competing in singles since then. Last I heard, Chau is still in Ellenton (he placed 6th in Senior Men at Eastern Sectionals this past season); Tanovich (junior last season and competing senior now) switched to another rink in Florida and currently is coached by Richard Callaghan, I believe.

[Ziggy]

Also, does anyone know why the winning young team, Tanovich/ Chau, split up awhile ago?

She outgrew him.

[aftershocks]

Thanks Sylvia, and Ziggy.

I definitely enjoyed watching Tanovich/ Chau in novice and juniors. I didn't realize Tracy experienced a growth spurt that made their partnership difficult to maintain. It must be very challenging for them both to be a winning pair team and then compete lower-ranked in singles and not make Nationals.

I remember seeing Zhang/ Bartholomay at Nats and I think they're a good team, but not in the "shock and awe" category. I remember when Zhang skated with Taylor Toth, but her new partnership probably works better for her. I'm excited to see the new team of Baga/ Toth as they both seem to have a similar lyrical style.

Are there any clips available of Kayne/ O'Shea?

[my little pony]

I definitely enjoyed watching Tanovich/ Chau in novice and juniors. I didn't realize Tracy experienced a growth spurt that made their partnership difficult to maintain. It must be very challenging for them both to be a winning pair team and then compete lower-ranked in singles and not make Nationals.

michael chau is fabulous but only 5'4 so tracy didnt have to grow that much to outgrow him

[aftershocks]

^^ Ohhhh, too bad -- they were fun to watch. I guess Chau will not have a future in pairs if he's stopped growing.

[Sylvia]

Are there any clips available of Kayne/ O'Shea?

Not that I know of - they have yet to compete together. I've heard they may be making their competition debut at Liberty in July.

The 3 other pair teams in Ellenton, FL (for a total of 6 teams) are:
Stacey Kemp/David King (GBR) - #23 in ISU World Standings, eligible for a Senior GP invite

Junior: Alyssa McDougal/Paul Schatz (new team; he is 21 now)
Novice: Grace Knoop/Noah Chinault (8th in Intermediate at 2012 Jr. Nationals)

I'm told that Michael Chau is planning to continue competing in singles and he will also be assisting in coaching in Ellenton.

[aftershocks]

^^ Thanks for the additional information, Sylvia!

[5Ali3]

Also, does anyone know why the winning young team, Tanovich/ Chau, split up awhile ago?

As others have mentioned, Tanovich and Chau were nearly the same height by the end of their partnership (Chau is about 5'4", maybe a bit less). They attempted to hang on for one last season, which would have been their first on the JGP, but Chau hurt his shoulder and I think that forced the issue.

The writing had been on the wall for a few seasons, and at least for me, it allowed an interesting perspective on their skating. I always enjoyed watching them skate from Juvenile on up, with a joy and lovely quality of movement about them. Although any season may be a team's last season, I was especially aware of that with Tanovich and Chau (because of his height and her age), and it allowed me to really appreciate their performances in their last few years. I know that many were hoping they would get their well-earned Team USA jackets before they needed to split, and the timing of Chau's injury was unfortunate.

[Sylvia]

I know that many were hoping they would get their well-earned Team USA jackets before they needed to split, and the timing of Chau's injury was unfortunate.

Yes, I was really hoping they could compete internationally at least once together. On a positive, present day note, Tanovich can land a clean 2A as a singles skater and seems to be improving its consistency in competition.

Tiffany Vise ‏( @icetiff ) tweeted on May 13:

So excited to be working with Phillip Mills this week on our new short program to the instrumental version "Open Arms" by Journey.